Operation of lean burn engines, e.g., diesel engines and lean burn gasoline engines, provide the user with excellent fuel economy, and have very low emissions of gas phase hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide due to their operation at high air/fuel ratios under fuel lean conditions. Diesel engines, in particular, also offer significant advantages over gasoline engines in terms of their fuel economy, durability, and their ability to generate high torque at low speed.
From the standpoint of emissions, however, diesel engines present problems more severe than their spark-ignition counterparts. Emission problems relate to particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx), unburned hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO). NOx is a term used to describe various chemical species of nitrogen oxides, including nitrogen monoxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), among others.
Oxidation catalysts comprising precious metals such as platinum group metals (PGM) dispersed on a refractory metal oxide support are known for use in treating the exhaust of diesel engines in order to convert both hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide gaseous pollutants by catalyzing the oxidation of these pollutants to carbon dioxide and water. Such catalysts have been generally contained in units called diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC), or more simply catalytic converters, which are placed in the exhaust flow path from a diesel powered engine to treat the exhaust before it vents to the atmosphere. Typically, the diesel oxidation catalysts are formed on ceramic or metallic substrate carriers upon which one or more catalyst coating compositions are deposited. In addition to the conversions of gaseous HC, CO and the SOF fraction of particulate matter, oxidation catalysts that contain platinum group metals (which are typically dispersed on a refractory oxide support) promote the oxidation of nitric oxide (NO) to NO2.
For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,120 discloses oxidation catalysts containing ceria and a bulk second metal oxide which may be one or more of titania, zirconia, ceria-zirconia, silica, alumina-silica and alpha-alumina.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,124 discloses oxidation catalysts containing ceria and alumina. It is disclosed that each have a surface area of at least about 10 m2/g. The weight ratio of ceria to alumina is disclosed to be 1.5:1 to 1:1.5. It is further disclosed to optionally include platinum. The alumina is disclosed to preferably be activated alumina. U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,120 discloses oxidation catalysts containing ceria and a bulk second metal oxide, which may be one or more of titania, zirconia, ceria-zirconia, silica, alumina-silica and alpha-alumina.
The prior art also shows an awareness of the use of zeolites, including metal-doped zeolites, to treat diesel exhaust. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,581 discloses a filter for diesel exhaust, in which the exhaust is constrained to flow through the catalyst walls to filter the soot particles. A catalyst comprising a platinum group metal-doped zeolite is dispersed on the walls of the filter to catalyze oxidation of the soot to unplug the filter.
US 2008/045405 discloses a diesel oxidation catalyst for the treatment of exhaust gas emissions, such as the oxidation of unburned hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide and the reduction of nitrogen oxides. More particularly, US 2008/045405 is directed to a washcoat composition comprising two distinct washcoat layers containing two distinctly different weight ratios of Pt:Pd.
The state of the art discloses various catalyst compositions for catalyzed soot filters (CSF). For example US 2007/191219 discloses a catalytic material for removing diesel particulates, which comprises a composite oxide which contains zirconium as a primary component and a rare-earth metal except for cerium and yttrium. The composite oxide has a crystallite diameter of 13 nm to 40 nm.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,250,385 discloses a catalyst formed by covering each surface of particles in a ceramic support with an alumina thin film and holding an active catalyst component with the surface of the thin film, which is large in the pore size and porosity and small in the pressure loss irrespectively of forming the alumina thin film on the surface and is produced, for example, by immersing the ceramic support in an aluminum-containing metallic compound, preliminarily firing, immersing in hot water, drying, firing and finally holding the active catalyst component on the alumina thin film on the surface of the support.
As is well-known in the art, catalysts used to treat the exhaust of internal combustion engines are less effective during periods of relatively low temperature operation, such as the initial cold-start period of engine operation, because the engine exhaust is not at a temperature sufficiently high for efficient catalytic conversion of noxious components in the exhaust. To this end, it is known in the art to include an adsorbent material, which may be a zeolite, as part of a catalytic treatment system in order to adsorb gaseous pollutants, usually hydrocarbons, and retain them during the initial cold-start period. As the exhaust gas temperature increases, the adsorbed hydrocarbons are driven from the adsorbent and subjected to catalytic treatment at the higher temperature. In this regard, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,231 which discloses the use of platinum group metal-doped zeolites as low temperature hydrocarbon adsorbents as well as oxidation catalysts.
As discussed hereinabove, oxidation catalysts comprising a platinum group metal (PGM) dispersed on a refractory metal oxide support are known for use in treating exhaust gas emissions from diesel engines. Platinum (Pt) remains the most effective platinum group metal for oxidizing CO and HC in a DOC, after high temperature aging under lean conditions and in the presence of fuel sulfur. Nevertheless, one of the major advantages of using palladium (Pd) based catalysts is the lower cost of Pd compared to Pt. However, Pd based DOCs typically show higher light-off temperatures for oxidation of CO and HC, especially when used with HC storage materials, potentially causing a delay in HC and or CO light-off. Pd containing DOCs may poison the activity of Pt to convert paraffins and/or oxidize NO and may also make the catalyst more susceptible to sulfur poisoning. These characteristics have typically prevented the use of Pd as an oxidation catalyst in lean burn operations especially for light duty diesel applications where engine temperatures remain below 250° C. for most driving conditions.
As emissions regulations become more stringent, there is a continuing goal to develop diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) systems that provide improved performance, for example, light-off performance. Consequently the present invention is directed to a diesel oxidation catalyst with a layer design in order to maximize the hydrocarbon storage capacity without sacrificing the catalytic activity of the catalyst. There is also a goal to utilize components of DOCs, for example, the zeolites, ceria, and palladium, as efficiently as possible.